beastboy's perspective
"Pew, pew, wee-wee, werr, weeeeer. I'm gonna blast you to grains of sand, buddy."
A long-lost flow of energy rushed through me. With a wide-spread smile on my face, I rapidly crushed my fingers on my video game control.
My body appeared to be going through some sort of euphoric high. I felt recharged beyond capacity, and as if not a thing in the world bothered me. All that concerned me, was the device in my hands, and the game on the screen.
Someone sat down quietly on my left.
My peripheral vision picked up blurs of red, green, and yellow.
"Whazzup, Robin?"
"Nothing much. You seem awfully happy today." a hint of concern lingered in his words.
"Sure, I'm playing Space Invaders. Originally, this thing was a Japanese arcade game from 1978, but they made it into a video game. I haven't played it inna while, and I'm hooked."
"Mmm..."
I played eagerly for a couple of more minutes until Robin spoke again.
"Beastboy? Um... Can we have a one-on-one for a minute?"
"Oh, yeah, of course," I paused the game, "Whaddya do?"
"I'm sorry for what happened a few days back. I meant to apologize to you earlier, but I figured you needed some space."
"I forgive you. Thanks for coming clean." my hyper exterior faded almost instantly.
"No problem. It would be wrong to go on and act like whatever is going on isn't going on, you know?"
"Copy."
Robin stated gently, "We're all here for you, don't forget that."
"I know, dude. I've got Star to make me hundreds of different kinds of Puddings of Sadness, I've got Cy to play jokes with, you to debate with me if motorcycles or mopeds are better, and Raven to tell me that even if I glue the video game control to her hands, she still won't play." my lips curled into a weak smile.
"Ahaha, yep. How are you feeling right now, if you don't mind me asking?"
"I feel alright, in the moment. I mean, I can't really tell how I feel right now, because I'm pretending to be happy while I'm happy, because all I want is to be happy, but I'm sad because sadness is all I've been feeling, but basically, I'm happy because I'm sad, and sad because I'm happy."
"The worst feeling ever, take it from me." Robin commented.
"Dude, and it's like... it kinda becomes the norm. Not being able to differentiate your feelings is not only annoying, but it makes everything you're dealing with much worse than it already is. But, I'll be fine, I'm sure of it."
The last sentence tasted like a lie on my tongue.
"I know you will. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to talk to me, okay? I may be a clean freak and villain obsessive, but I'll always carve some time out of my day to help a friend." Robin raised his fist to mine with a kind smile.
"Thanks, dude. Means a lot." I bumped my knuckles against his.
"No problem. Shoot, we've gotta get to it." Robin jumped up from the sofa as the alarm shrieked through the tower.
The rest of the team dashed in from the hallways.
"Who has done the criminal activities, now?" Starfire quizzed.
Robin furrowed his eyebrows, "The H.I.V.E."
"Didn't we just fight them like yesterday? I feel like I'm repeating my days here." I facepalmed my forehead.
"Not quite. It's been a while since we last saw them. Titans, move out!"
At our leader's command, the team hurried out of the building.
Following a ten minute drive in the T-Car, we arrived at our destination. The H.I.V.E. was robbing stores at the mall.
Robin stated, "Titans, I've got five different locations broken up in different places. One in the gaming store, two in the jewelry store, one in the clothing store, and the fifth one..."
"What's wrong, Rob?" Cyborg questioned.
"I can't locate the fifth member's coordinates for some reason."
"Woops-a-daisy. Hey, Billy! I found the Teen Twits!"
We turned around, seeing clones of Billy Numerous spread throughout a hyper market.
"I'll take Numerous. Cyborg, you take Gizmo, who's in the gaming store. Star, you've got See-More and Kyd Wykkyd in the jewelry store. Beastboy and Raven, you're taking Mammoth in the clothing store. Titans, go!"
"Which clothing store are we looking for in specific?" I asked Raven.
"No idea. I guess we're going to have to look for any suspicious activity."
My eyes scanned through glass windows, then I heard glass break from overhead.
"Up there, on the second floor!" I called, transforming into a pterodactyl.
I landed on the ground, with Raven right beside me.
As we entered into the store, screaming people scattered in fear.
"Listen, I'll call the police, and they'll have you locked up in an instant!"
Mammoth was threatening a young woman behind the register.
"By the time I'm finished here, all the police'll come back to is an empty store with your scared, cute lil' face. Besides, I ain't scared of people in blue vests and toy guns. Now, be a good girl and let me get a shopping spree for free." he pressed into the counter.
"Nah, you can get a punch, though. And mine don't have discounts." Mammoth turned around right into my swinging fist.
He groaned, stumbling backwards.
He regained his balance, then charged towards my teammate. As quick as Mammoth was to attempt to punch Raven, she was just as quick to deflect every hit. With her magic, Raven took a clothing rack, then thrashed it at the criminal.
"Oh, so we're throwing objects? Fun." the villain lifted up a table, and I turned into a gorilla in response.
Suddenly, I froze.
What the hell are you doing? Move!
My mind wanted to act, but my body was at a stand still. My pupils dilated, as the world around me seemed to drain of color and sound.
I felt my heartbeat amplify in my chest, as bumps washed across my skin. The table appeared to be coming closer to me in slow motion, but I backfired on myself.
Just as I was about to get hammered by the table, a black shield of magic defended me.
Raven shot the table back at Mammoth instantly. She formed her magic into a hand, then flung Mammoth against a wall on the other end of the store.
My vision was in a slight haze, but I recognized that Mammoth hadn't gotten up.
I heard the shuffling of police began as the customers began to murmur.
I panted heavily, switching back into my human form. My eyes quivered in shock, whilst a cramp formed in my heart. I unconsciously grabbed onto an area on my left arm, just below the shoulder.
"Hey, what happened back there?"
All of the words I wanted to say refused to come out. It was as if I was a car with an engine that couldn't start. The bitter weight of my tongue returned, as well as the stiffness in my jaw.
"Beastboy. Beastboy, talk to me." a pain escalated in Raven's voice.
Given that Raven always had an unbothered, cool exterior, I've never seen her display distress that often.
Especially because of me.
"What happened to your arm? Are you okay? Just say something, please. Even if you nod or say one word. I want to help you."
Pain was hardened into my face, but I proceeded towards the exit.
"I'm fine, let's go help the rest of the team."